Robert Miller: Invasive species with wings

Updated 11:44 pm, Friday, January 31, 2014

Mute swans are the grandest birds on the Connecticut landscape. Great blue herons may stand taller, but swans outweigh them four times over. Even a big tom turkey, strutting through the woods, doesn't measure up.

On the water, mute swans -- the only ones we normally see in Connecticut -- are regal beauties. In flight, they're breathtaking. William Butler Yeats knew about swans.

And, according to a lot of wildlife experts, they should get outta here.

Grandy is the executive director of The Pegasus Foundation, an organization dedicated to animal welfare. He's worked directly with state wildlife departments to get them to mitigate their Draconian stances on mute swans, most recently in Delaware.

"I'm trying to get in touch with the people in New York to see if there's a better way to work on this,'' he said.

Even though mute swans were brought here from Europe, he said, they've been part of the ecosystem for more than a century.

"It's preposterous to classify them as an invasive species,'' he said.

Grandy also pointed out that while there may be 2,5000 mute swans in New York, there are hundreds of thousands Canada geese and migrating snow geese. If there's habitat damage to aquatic weeds, it's very hard to point the finger on mute swans alone.

"Most of that is hyperbole,'' he said.

And, he said, what they add to the landscape is their beauty. Which is worth something.